What the hell is “Sweding?” It’s basically the idea that fuels Michel Gondry’s upcoming ode to VHS-made movie remakes, “Be Kind Rewind,” starring Mos Def and Jack Black.
According to the Be Kind Rewind site, Sweding – “is re-making something from scratch using whatever you can get your hands on.”
Wikipedia describes Sweding as: a neologism first coined in ‘Be Kind Rewind’ that describes the practice of re-creating something from scratch using commonly available, everyday materials and technology. Items that are ‘Sweded’ look distinctively homemade, often bearing only the slightest resemblance to the original. While naively rendered, ‘Sweded’ items are usually charming and highly amusing.
Origin: In the film Black suggests that their ‘customised’ videos are imported from Sweden (partly to justify their longer wait periods and higher rental costs). From that point on the term ‘Sweding’ is used to describe the process of remaking movies from scratch.
Got it? Got it.
The filmmakers have even been so kind as to upload a Sweding How To PDF Guide on the site. The “Sweded” films in the movie include “2001: A Space Odyssey,” “Ghostbusters,” “Back To The Future,” “RoboCop,” “Rush Hour,” “Boyz in the Hood,” “Driving Miss Daisy,” and “The Lion King.”
A bunch of Sweded trailers have found their way onto YouTube no doubt for viral promotional purposes. Here’s a few.
“Boyz N’ The Hood” Sweded version
“Ghostbusters” Sweded version
“Robocop” Sweded version
Watch: “Driving Ms. Daisy” Sweded version
Watch: “Rush Hour” Sweded version
“Be Kind Rewind” opens January 25 in regular theaters and will also screen at Sundance 2008. While there’s not a lot of soundtrack information out there yet, as we reported back in August, Jean-Michel Bernard has composed the music to the film (he also scored Gondry’s “The Science of Sleep,” and contributed music to, “Human Nature”), but he’s also completed songs for the film arranging Fats Waller songs that will feature ‘Rewind’ lead Mos Def.